There is Always Next Year

It is September and the playoff races in MLB are being hotly contested. Here in the Baltimore-Washington region though, hometown fans are already counting down to when pitchers and catchers report in February 2007. The Orioles are doomed to their customary 4th place finish in 2006, unless of course the Devil Rays make a late charge to push them back to 5th. The lead stands at 5 with less than 20 games to play. Talk about a race for October! The Nationals, on the other hand, are clearly starting a rebuilding process and will, in all likelihood, finish the season in last place in the National League East.

When I look at the Orioles roster, it appears they are only a handful of players away, but those are some hard to come by players. A top of the rotation ace would clearly be the first priority. If they could acquire such a player, they could slot the remainder of the rotation with Bedard, Benson, Cabrera, and Loewen. Problem here is, what pitcher can they bring in to fill that gap? Most teams need starting pitching, so the bidding on free agents will go pretty high, and Peter Angelos has shown an unwillingness to throw lots of money or guarantee more than 3 years to pitchers. Fans might have held out hope that the Marlins would be willing to trade Dontrelle Willis while in their latest rebuilding period, but with this year's success that seems unlikely. Had they finished 20+ games under .500, would they have taken a deal involving Hayden Penn, a young reliever like Sendy Rleal and maybe a hitting prospect like Nolan Reimold? The bullpen will need to be completely overhauled. Chris Ray is a good closer but a couple of reliable setup men to bridge the gap from the 6th to the 9th are needed. As for the hitting lineup, a power hitting, right-handed batting left fielder or first baseman who hits well against lefties would solidify the middle of the order. Maybe Carlos Lee?

As for the Nationals they would seem to need more help, especially if they are unable to re-sign Alfonso Soriano. The pitching rotation looks weak even with the return to health in 2007 for John Patterson. The bullpen has some good pieces in Chad Cordero, Jon Rauch and Micah Bowie, and should be bolstered next season with the return of top setup man Luis Ayala. The batting lineup's future revolves around the status of Soriano. If he returns, the only holes appear to be center field and finding a successor to Jose Vidro at second. The big question is whether or not the ownership will spend to win in 2007 or will they just view it as a bridge to the following season when the new stadium is scheduled to open on the Anacostia River waterfront.

Despite their greater needs, the Nationals sit a half-game ahead of the Orioles in the dreadful race for the region's best record. Of course, most, if not all, teams would happily trade 57 games against the Yankees, Red Sox, and Blue Jays for the same number against the Mets, Phillies, and Marlins. That brings me to the inherent unfairness of the unbalanced schedule in the wild-card era, but I will save that rant for another day.

One final thought. Last night, the local news was reporting the results of the DC democratic mayoral primary and named Adrian Fenty as the winner. The lead anchor introduced him as the new mayor of the District. The thought process being that in a city with 75% of registered voters identifying themselves as Democrats that this primary was the real race for DC mayor. It made me wonder. At the end of the ALCS, will ESPN announce the winner as the next World Series champion?